Procol Harum

Beyond
the Pale

Live in Edmonton

Contemporary album
review

Mark Plummer in MM, 29 April 1972The Live Album with orchestra and singers must rate along
with Neil Young's Harvest, Todd Rundgren's solo double, Grave
New World, and Quiver's soon-to-released album, as one of the
finest pieces of music to be released this year.

But this album departs from the simple funk of the others' pop
patterns, and joins that small section of groups who make music
and owe more to notes than basic feeling. At the same time they
still have a hell of a lot of funk and drive in their music.
Listen to Dave Ball's guitar work on the Grand Finale
section of the In Held 'Twas in I, the choir pushing their
voices to the point of breaking. The audience reaction says it
all.

Putting orchestras behind bands has been a kind of in thing
with aspiring young musicians like Emerson and Lord for quite a
while now, but they have usually been fairly rigid 'classical'
pieces that leave a lot to be desired. Mainly this has been the
fault of the writer letting his ego run away with him, leaving
him with a 'masterpiece' that doesn't really happen.

Gary Brooker has approached his arrangements from the pop side
of the orchestra and leans more towards 60s Phil Spector.
Consequently the orchestra is used to colour the music, rather
than running away with itself. At other times Brooker uses his
strings like a simple balladeer, just adding that little extra
something to the rhythm sections.

If you can't get that together, nip into a record shop and ask
to hear Whaling Stories, which has just about every style
Brooker has ever used. A Salty Dog which follows is the
Brooker-Reid song that reaches nearer perfection, but Whaling
Stories is the one that holds both their arrogance and
musical direction.